Bukit Kepong sends wrong Merdeka message
Athi VeerangganPublished: Sep 6, 2005 3:50 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
RTM should stop airing the annual pre-Merdeka Malay movie - Bukit Kepong - as it contains racist elements that only invoke Malay hatred towards the Chinese, Penang DAP said today.
RTM should stop airing the annual pre-Merdeka Malay movie - Bukit Kepong - as it contains racist elements that only invoke Malay hatred towards the Chinese, Penang DAP said today.
The movie, according to its organising secretary Danny Law, does not promote national patriotism and it is best that it be taken off in order to avoid racial tension and polarisation.
Bukit Kepong has been aired over RTM 1 on its annual pre-Merdeka movie slot for the past few years.
The movie evolves about a Malay village which was ambushed in a sudden attack by armed rebels from the Communists Party of Malaya (CPM).
The all-Chinese CPM militants in the movie are shown in CPM military uniforms and a cap pinned with a red star, a symbol of the China Communist Party. The communist rebels took control of the village after slaughtering and killing Malay villages, including women and children.
The movie was shown on the midnight slot between 11.30 pm on last Aug 28 and 1.30am on Aug 29 this year.
Law said that dialogues in the movie were also racially slanted, arguing that it was not fit to be shown as a pre-Merdeka movie which should be about inculcating a spirit of patriotism among citizens.
Three reasons
He gave three reasons why Bukit Kepong was an unsuitable movie for the occasion.
"Firstly, the fight for independence was against the British, not the communists. Secondly, CPM had been dissolved through the1989 Hatyai Peace Treaty and thirdly, the CPM armed struggle was initially a struggle for independence against the British," Law explained.
He described the message from movie as an obstacle towards the country's nation building agenda because it stirs up racism in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.
"We call on the government not to air Bukit Kepong and other similar movies on national television," he said.
"Instead, the government should sponsor movies or dramas involving the struggle of the three main races, Malaysa, Chinese and Indians in the fight for independence as this would help to create racial harmony, unity and solidarity," Law added.
ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.
The movie, according to its organising secretary Danny Law, does not promote national patriotism and it is best that it be taken off in order to avoid racial tension and polarisation. Bukit Kepong has been aired over RTM 1 on its annual pre-Merdeka movie slot for the past few years.
The movie evolves about a Malay village which was ambushed in a sudden attack by armed rebels from the Communists Party of Malaya (CPM).
The all-Chinese CPM militants in the movie are shown in CPM military uniforms and a cap pinned with a red star, a symbol of the China Communist Party. The communist rebels took control of the village after slaughtering and killing Malay villages, including women and children.
The movie was shown on the midnight slot between 11.30 pm on last Aug 28 and 1.30am on Aug 29 this year.
Law said that dialogues in the movie were also racially slanted, arguing that it was not fit to be shown as a pre-Merdeka movie which should be about inculcating a spirit of patriotism among citizens.
Three reasons
He gave three reasons why Bukit Kepong was an unsuitable movie for the occasion. "Firstly, the fight for independence was against the British, not the communists. Secondly, CPM had been dissolved through the1989 Hatyai Peace Treaty and thirdly, the CPM armed struggle was initially a struggle for independence against the British," Law explained.
He described the message from movie as an obstacle towards the country's nation building agenda because it stirs up racism in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.
"We call on the government not to air Bukit Kepong and other similar movies on national television," he said.
"Instead, the government should sponsor movies or dramas involving the struggle of the three main races, Malaysa, Chinese and Indians in the fight for independence as this would help to create racial harmony, unity and solidarity," Law added.
ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.
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